Hasta La Ideas

Maximiliano Sproviero’s Reina starts with Bodoni and Didot and adds aspects of Spencerian script and the work of Herb Lubalin. The results are stunning – magnificent and graceful.

Sproviero has demonstrated his love of calligraphy in earlier work, such as Breathe (2010) and Parfait Script (2009–2010), but Reina is his most ambitious project yet, boasting 12 separate fonts. That is, three optical weights (12, 36, and 72) and an Engraved weight, plus two sets of Words (common words found in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish, each enclosed in a calligraphic cartouche), a set of ornamental Capitals, and a set of Flourishes. It’s clearly a labor of love, which Sproviero completed at the ripe old age of 24.

OpenType technology, of course, has allowed script and calligraphic typefaces to come back in a big way. The Pro versions of Reina – with their alternate glyphs, contrasting thick and thin strokes, swashes and flourishes – make this typeface soar.

Personally, I am especially smitten with Reina’s Engraved set, which is beautiful and refined. Combine it with the Words and Flourishes components and you have a complete headline kit. I recommend checking out Reina’s PDF specimen to get a mouth-watering glimpse of Reina’s possibilities.

Ricardo Cordoba is a graphic designer based in Brooklyn, New York. His interests include typeface design, book cover design, and poster design. Ricardo is a frequent contributor to Typographica and also a contributing Quipsologist.